The absolutely fabulous Steamworld Dig will be making it’s Playstation debut on March 18th in the US and March 19th in Europe. The game will be available as a cross buy title for both Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita. Image & Form originally crafted Steamworld Dig for the Nintendo eShop on 3DS, garnering a Metacritic rating of 82. The game received an HD makeover for a release on the Steam platform for both PC and Mac last year.

Congratulations to Image & Form on the upcoming Playstation family release!

First impressions of Tearaway are that it will be my 8th Platinum, considering I play a lot of games and never finish them, this is high praise. I want to finish Tearaway, getting 100% completion while unlocking all the secrets. I was never a huge LittleBigPlanet fan, not sure why, although I own them all. This game is Media Molecule’s best, in my opinion. Playstation platforms are firing on all cylinders right now, between the launch of the PS4, great content on PS3, and now Tearaway on PS Vita. I hope this game sells well and will push Vita hardware sales at the same time.

In-game camera using filters and lens.

The game is very exploratory, play at your own pace. Relaxing, whimsy and bright. The origami angle is interesting, my son loves making these so being able to print them out and make them in real life will be fun and entertaining. Finally an interesting use for the back touch, love the icons they put on the touchable objects, nice UI touch.

And finally, no loading that I’ve seen yet. The levels blend together beautifully, no loading screens just graceful transitions. There is also neat online integration available at tearaway.me. Upload screenshots taken with the in-game camera as well as download those adorable paper craft to print out and make in real life just so long that you collect them in-game first.

With the advent of the Playstation 4 Sony has done the unthinkable. They’ve gotten Remote Play to actually work and work well. No longer a feature to be tossed aside and ignored, Remote Play is the perfect reason to own a Playstation Vita and a Playstation 4. When combined you get the best of both worlds, a powerful home console for playing state of the arts games and a powerful handheld that can not only play unique games like Tearaway or Killzone Mercenary in the palm of your hand but able to play most PS4 games also in the palm of your hand with amazing graphical output.

Battlefield 4 on PS Vita

Since the release of the PS4 last week I’ve been playing Remote Play daily. Being able to play a full console experience Assassin’s Creed or Battlefield, which was promised years ago on PSP, is truly a sight to behold. Developers have the ability to adjust the control scheme based on the controller being used and since the Vita acts as a controller when hooked up via Remote Play, each game will automatically adjust the controls to fit the Vita. In some cases this doesn’t always work out perfectly, I’m not a big fan of where Call of Duty Ghosts places the run button when using Remote Play but overall it works pretty well. Playing multiplayer online with PS Vita in CoD: Ghosts is actually a really cool use of Remote Play and I’ve done pretty well, maintaining a positive K/D ratio. It’s definitely harder to see players so you’re at a disadvantage but if you have that itch to play Ghosts on PS4 when the TV is in use, Vita has you covered.

Resogun, a downloadable title by Housemarque, is a marvelous use of Remote Play. The game feels at home when played on the Vita and frankly, I expect at some point there will be a Resogun native Vita version it’s that good. Reminds me of the days playing Defender for hours in the arcades.

Blizzard demoing Diablo 3 on Vita

If you own a Playstation Vita you owe it to yourself to pick up a PS4. The combined library of games available is vast and only going to grow. Remote Play has finally been fully realized and it’s here to stay. I’m counting the days before I can play Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition on my Vita while in bed. The future is now.

Amazon is running a pretty good deal on some PS4 indie titles right now. Get Flower (PS4, PS3, and PS Vita all included), Trine 2: Complete Story, and Super Motherload for a discounted price of $37.77 (Saving $5). Buying the Amazon PS4 Indie Bundle also includes a $10 PSN Credit with purchase which makes it an even sweeter deal. Amazon is running this deal for a limited time, no end date has been announced as of yet.

Remote play is one of the best new features on the Playstation 4. While remote play has been around since the days of Playstation Portable combined with the Playstation 3, the feature was not a core part of the operating system and felt tacked on. A handheld of games support the first iteration of remote play including Lair, God of War Collection, and Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Collection.

Now with the advent of the PS4, remote play is no longer a tacked on afterthought but a fully realized core feature of the Playstation OS. It’s fairly easy to get remote play setup on the PS Vita when playing in the same room as the PS4. However there are a couple extra steps to take to ensure that remote play will work when in another room in your home or outside of your home.

Step 1

Validate that the PS4 is left in stand by mode. If the light bar on the top of the PS4 is lit orange then the console is in stand by mode. This is important in that the Vita will not be able to connect to the PS4 when the console is completely off.

Step 2

There is a system setting called “PS Vita Connection Settings”. The obvious setting here is to make sure that remote play is enabled. However there is a second setting called “Connect Directly with PS Vita”. This needs to be off when wanting to use remote play anywhere but within a few feet of the PS4. This setting will force the Vita to connect directly to the PS4 WiFi hotspot and will disable the ability for the PS4 to see a PS Vita over a network. Again, disable this setting to use remote play when outside of the home where the PS4 resides or when in places inside your house where remote play isn’t working well.

Step 3

Another system setting needs to be enabled which allows the PS4 to use network functions when in standby mode. These settings are found in an option called “Set Functions Available in Standby Mode”. Both “Connect to the Internet” and “Enable Turning On PS4 from Network” need to be on. Enabling both of these options allows for the PS4 to be turned on via the network connection so a PS Vita using a WiFi connection can turn on the console remotely.

With these settings you should now be able to enjoy playing PS4 from anywhere in the world in the palm of your hand. Of course internet connectivity is very important to get a good experience through remote play. The Vita requires a strong WiFi signal when using remote play. Sometimes this can be difficult to achieve even when in your own home. Try extending your WiFi signal to other parts of your home using a wireless repeater or extender if you find your WiFi signal to be weak. I’ve had good luck using a Securifi Almond Touchscreen Wireless Router / Range Extender to get WiFi in all corners of my house.

The PS4 should also be connected to ethernet instead of WiFi. This can be difficult to achieve without hundreds of feet of ethernet cable or moving your internet router next to the PS4. However, I personally use a set of NETGEAR Powerline 200Mbps Nano Adapters. You plug one into your router and a standard power outlet and another into the PS4 and another power outlet. The performance increase is dramatic and worth the nominal cost to maintain a direct ethernet connection.

Make sure both the PS4 and PS Vita are running the latest system software updates before using remote play, as often improvements are made to the functionality to improve performance and stability.

Amazon.com is also now selling a $10 PSN Digital Card for the first time. This is good news for those looking for a few dollars to buy something on the PSN store without having to buy $20 for a digital card.

Muramasa Rebirth Blessing of Amitabha Collector’s Edition has been announced by Aksys and will be released alongside the standard edition of the game on June 25th, 2013 exclusively for Playstation Vita. The collector’s edition includes the following extras: custom designed PS Vita face cover, PS Vita Skin featuring art from the game, a PS Vita drawstring pouch and a Muramasa lithograph drawn by George Kamitani, creator of Muramasa Rebirth. The CE version will retail for $59.99and the standard edition will cost $39.99.

The game looks gorgeous on the Vita screen and will be a top selling Vita title for sure. Thank you Vanillaware for bringing Muramasa to Vita. I’m looking forward to Dragon’s Crownas well!

Sony is ending February and starting March with a great promotion. For every $50 you spend from your SEN aka PSN Walletyou’ll receive a free $10 credit back in April. If you spend $100, you’ll get $20 back in April as an example.

Now is a perfect time to subscribe or renew your Playstation Plus 12 month Subscription.Not only will you get 3 FREE MONTHS of Playstation Plus (ends March 4th) you’ll be one cent shy of qualifying for a free $10 PSN credit. Just buy a Playstation Network Cardand spend at least one cent to get a free $10 credit in April.

Zen Studios is releasing arguably their biggest DLC coup ever in the form of Star Wars Pinball on February 26th for Playstation 3 and PS Vita. The first pack of DLC includes three Star Wars themed tables from various eras of the franchise; Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Boba Fett, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Star Wars Pinball Trophies for PS3 and PS Vita

Earn your first rank by completing the clone training on the Clone Wars table. (Bronze)

Purge the galaxy by defeating both Sith Lords on the Clone Wars table! (Silver)

Make 10 jumps in a row over the Sarlacc pit on the Boba Fett table! (Bronze)

Travel through Wild Space to fight the Battle of Kamino on the Boba Fett table! (Silver)

Complete a Training mode on the Star Wars Episode V table. (Bronze)

Uncover the dark secret of Darth Vader at the end of Scene 6 on the Star Wars Episode V table. (Silver)

Six trophies across the three tables, one bronze and one silver per table. Star Wars Pinball DLC releases on February 26th for $9.99 on PSN with cross-buy support. Buy it once and get both the PS3 & PS Vita versions. Stock up and add some money to your PSN walletso you can buy the new DLC.